The Giants’ potent third baseman

I have to admit I have had a hard time confirming whether the Giants are negotiating with newly minted free agent Ty Wigginton to play third base. Both sides have remained mum, although the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported the Giants were one of four teams in on Wigginton, who hit 23 homers with Houston last year.

The one team I expect will go hard after Wigginton is Pittsburgh. A source told me the Pirates were trying to deal for him during the winter meetings before the Astros non-tendered him.

For now, Pablo Sandoval is the third baseman, but the Giants have an intriguing alternative that has not been publicized, and there is an interesting story in how they got him.

His name is Jesus Guzman. He is 24. He won the Texas League batting title in 2008 and he just set a Venezuelan League record by driving in his 57th run. He has 11 home runs for the Caracas Lions, which is one short of the league lead co-held by none other than — Pablo Sandoval. Guzman’s batting, on-base and slugging numbers are .363/.458/.665.

The Giants recently signed Guzman to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training. Interestingly, they wrested him from the Oakland A’s, who had Guzman last season and thought they had a deal to re-sign him for 2009, until the Giants offered a little more money and the spring-training invite, which the A’s were not prepared to do.

Now that you all have soaked up Guzman’s numbers, here are the caveats:

First, he supposedly does not have much of a glove. One source told me his team likes Guzman’s bat but does not see him excelling at one position in the major-leagues. “The kid can probably hit enough to get here,” the source said, “but I’m not sure where he’s going to play.”

Guzman is playing third base for Caracas, which raises another caveat. As we all know, Venezuelan League numbers do not necessarily translate into success in the big-leagues. If they did, Eliezer Alfonzo would have been the starting catcher on the National League All-Star team last season after winning the 2007 Venezuelan League batting title.

Another caveat: Guzman originally came up with the Mariners, and they did not protect him.

With all that said, I’m told the A’s really wanted Guzman back after he hit .364/.419/.560 for their Double-A team in Midland, Texas. He did not fare as well in a short stint at Triple-A Sacramento. Here is his page on MILB.com

As a no-risk, high-reward signing, the Giants seemed to do very well here, adding some depth at a need position.